Glacial Deposits.indd - Department of Geography - Geology - Illinois ...

chondrites in Meteoritics and Planetary Science. A third paper on chondrite
spectroscopy is in press and will be published in Icarus later this year. Tasha plans to
spend most of her summer developing a new research project that will focus on
metamorphism of the enstatite chondrites, but she will continue to work on
metamorphism of ordinary chondrites and to explore new research projects with
students. Email: tldunn@ilstu.edu
Karen Dunton, Staff Clerk. Karen continues to be busy as President of the Clerical and Support
Staff Union on campus. It has been almost nine years since Karen joined the
Geography-Geology Department, and she is still glad to be working here. Karen
continues to be busy as President of the Clerical and Support Staff Union on campus.
They have been in contract negotiations since June of 2009. The uncertainty of the
Illinois budget has significantly impacted Illinois State with late payments, which has
contributed to the slow negotiations. Karen is enjoying her new apartment and second
job. The perks are the incredible views from her apartment windows, but sometimes the
work involved is significantly time consuming. Karen was not able to travel last year, but
her good friend from the United Kingdom came to visit in the fall as the leaves were
changing. Email: kkedunt@ilstu.edu
Johanna Haas, Assistant Professor of Geography. B.A., (Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum
Laude), 1993, English and Medieval and Renaissance Studies, West Virginia University;
J.D. (with honors in law), 2001, The Ohio State University; Ph.D., 2008, Geography, The
Ohio State University. Last summer, Johanna went on a follow-up research trip to Alaska
with two students, Dawn Heckmann and Amanda Landers. They stayed in the town of
Palmer to research the community response to coal-bed methane development. The trio
conducted a number of stakeholder interviews, completed archival research at the local
library and historical society, and trekked to a couple of potential well sites. They even
took part in a yearly softball game held by a group who fought against coal-bed methane
development a couple of years earlier. Both Dawn and Amanda were injured–the lengths
to which we go to get a good interview! Johanna’s GEO 205 class (Living in the
Environment) has launched a number of interesting projects. This year’s class
completed a two-year environmental assessment of Felmley Hall. Additionally, a number
of students were able to use the class as a launching board for their own projects.
Cristina Morales and Kelly Schneider used the class to create a proposal for a studentrun
herb garden that would provide fresh herbs to the dining services; and that garden is
currently going up on west campus. Tony Pagan, Joshua Burdick, and Jon Dove used
the class to construct and run an internet survey about the willingness of students to pay
a sustainability fee. That project resulted in a real vote of the student body, a vote that
overwhelmingly approved paying the fee. Cristina also used a short paper from 205 to
form a senior thesis in anthropology on bottled water, which Johanna oversaw. The new
GEO 313 course in Energy and Sustainability ran for the first time this spring. Fifteen
students gathered twice a week in a seminar-style class reading about and discussing a
large number of issues related to energy and energy policy. As last summer’s tomatoes
never ripened, Johanna still requests good tomato vibrations.
Email: jmhaas2@ilstu.edu
Terry L. Harshbarger, Lecturer in Geography. A.B., 1964, University of Illinois; M.S., 1970, and
Ph.D., 1974, Purdue University; and M.S., 1996, Indiana State University. Terry taught
one night section of World Geography each semester at Illinois State during the 2009-
2010 academic year; but his primary responsibilities are teaching World Geography,
Geography of Underdeveloped Areas, Economic Geography, and Aviation at Parkland
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